Richard Stedman Wimbish

Richard's passions were flying, engineering, business and family. On his way to summer camp at age 12, he saw a sign advertising airplane rides for $5.00, almost exactly the amount he had been given for the camp's canteen. He saved his money while watching his friends indulge; catching the flight on the way home. He was hooked. His newfound love steered him into the U. S. Air Force (1955-1957) flying the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport and other military aircraft, continuing in the reserves until 1971, and later into setting several (still standing) world-speed records with his twin-engine Piper Aerostar.

His analytical mind led him to a degree in Chemical Engineering at N. C. State (1955), followed by an MBA at Harvard Business School (1960). He founded Techform, a plastics manufacturing company in Mt Airy, NC. He designed and built his first thermoforming machine in 1962, then grew and operated the company for the next fifty years. His engineering endeavors included designing a thin ‘ultra-static’ speaker system (for which he owned a patent) and helping his son create a winning Pinewood Derby car.

When Richard wasn’t flying or designing, he was ripping down ski slopes daring everyone else to keep up, or jetting off to see another corner of the world. He was known to annoy his family with his harmonica, one of many musical instruments he learned to play. Such phrases as “What there was of it was good; and there was plenty of it, such as it was” will remain forever ingrained in the family’s vocabulary.

He spent much of his childhood in Hookerton, NC; and the majority of that in his boat paddling around Contentnia Creek with his dog, Devil. His entrepreneurial side emerged early, when he sold vegetables from his mother’s garden in his little red wagon—unfortunately at a tiny fraction of their actual value.

Richard served as Chair of the Administrative Board of Central United Methodist Church in Mt. Airy, President of the Mt. Airy Kiwanis Club, President of the Society of Plastics Engineers (and Man of the Year), Chairman of the Board of the Mt. Airy/Surry County Airport Authority, President of the Mt. Airy Chamber of Commerce, and was honored by the State of North Carolina with the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for over fifty consecutive years of flight without an incident. He was a member of the United Flying Octogenarians (UFO) Club. He was also known to act in the occasional community theater play.

He is survived by his wife of almost 30 years, Sue Ellen Wimbish; by his first wife Dorothy Tyndall Wimbish and their children John (Sandra) Wimbish, Caryl (Charles) Lewis, their grandchildren Kelly (Chloe) Lewis, Emily Wimbish, David (Blake) Wimbish, Brad (Sarah) Lewis, Robert Wimbish, Christiane (Luke) Carson, their great grandchildren Leona Carson, Madison Lewis, Makenna Lewis, Ivy Wimbish, Cillian Carson and another Lewis on the way; also by his stepchildren Katie (Matthew) Saunders, Andy (Laura) Calloway, Preston (Tiffany) Calloway, his step grandchildren Andrew Saunders, Liam Saunders, Matt Saunders, Collin Calloway, Benjamin Calloway, Maxwell Calloway; and by two cuddly Havanese Emma and Sir Winnie.

A memorial service will be held March 12 at 10:30 am, at Clemmons Moravian Church. Family will receive visitors at the church at 10:00 am. Interment will take place at 3:00 pm at the Stuart, VA. Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Clemmons Moravian Church or to Trellis Supportive Care of Winston-Salem, NC.